Friday, September 09, 2011

Wild Dogs As Acoustic Holdouts (Redux)

RainSong uses the same technology in bonding its bridges and necks that is used in making planes, rockets and satellite equipment. Stronger than the bonds of any wood glue or off-the-shelf epoxy, the RainSong high-tech materials and techniques combine for a smoother passage of energy from string to soundboard, for greater detail, a broader dynamic range and cleaner tone. RainSong believes that graphite is not something to cover up. That's why RainSongs are finished clear, to expose all the shimmering three-dimensional beauty and distinction of graphite's weave. RainSong has developed the best possible finish for protection and appearance without dampening sound. Layer after layer of clear UV protective finish is applied, sanded and buffed until only the thinnest mirrored surface remains. A carefully book-matched back of graphite weave, perfectly inlayed custom shark fret-markers and rosette give RainSong a striking and refined look. Top-of-the-line hardware balances the composition in cool chrome.

The dog wanted to run away
so badly he would have stolen
a row boat and rowed night and day
but the dog-in-a-boat escape
reminded him of a screenplay
Pixar had in development
and he’d rather suffer and stay
than embrace the Disney ethos.

I watched a stray dog walk across
a parking lot that was empty
but not flat. Rain water gathered
into puddles in depressions
in the asphalt and here and there
the asphalt was cracked, jutting up
jagged edges above puddles.
Since the water reflected sky
the edges of broken asphalt
looked like mountains against the sky
at a tiny scale and scattered
here and there in the asphalt world.

I watched a stray dog walk across
that asphalt world of rain puddles
under pretend asphalt mountains.
At a point—I watched carefully—
the stray dog stopped and sniffed the ground.
The dog scratched with its right front paw
at something, bent and sniffed again,
then walked away, leaving the lot,
disappearing in an alley
connected to the parking lot.
The stray dog never howled, at least
not while I watched it in the lot.

I walked across the parking lot
myself, of course, to the same point
where the stray dog had stopped to sniff
and scratch at the asphalt. I found
marks in the dirt on the asphalt
where the dog’s right front paw had scratched
at something that only the dog
was aware of because I saw
nothing different about there,
that spot, than any other spot
anywhere in the parking lot
I could see with my human eyes.

Wild dogs cry out in the night and
stray dogs walk across parking lots
and stop to scratch at things they see
or smell. Maybe they stop to scratch
at something and it has nothing
to do with what they see or smell.
If I’d had a guitar with me
I would have stopped and sat down there
and played some music at that spot
the stray dog found and showed me when
I walked across the parking lot
I watched a stray dog walk across.